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Is Absinthe Legal in the U.S.?

Absinthe has long been rumored to be illegal in the United States, yet brands like Lucid and St. George openly sell their absinthe products in liquor stores across the nation. So why all the hubbub about absinthe?

The liquor traditionally made from wormwood has a murky legal history in the United States and abroad, which has led absinthe producers to only recently begin marketing to Americans.

In 2007, the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) released a notice allowing distillers and importers to use the term "absinthe" as long as its contents were in line with the FDA's rules.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates what additives -- even natural ones -- may go into products purchased for eating and drinking. Wormwood, the traditional key ingredient of absinthe, is but one of a family plants (in the genus Artemisia) which also includes tarragon.

Thujone-free is a bit of a term of art, however, and the federal regulations defer to the Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) section on detecting thujone. Care of WoodwoodSociety.org, this method has a margin of error of 10 ppm (parts per million) of thujone. In layman's terms, this test will judge an absinthe to be "thujone-free" if the concentration of thujone is 10 ppm or less.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is tasked with enforcing federal regulations on absinthe which comes across U.S. borders. If you're a diehard fan of European absinthe and you want to bring some back with you from overseas, remember that the CBP may seize any: